Port of Entry
by thorsmightyhammer
Summary: Universal Studios is known for its two incredible Theme Parks, the most popular being Islands of Adventure. Thousands upon thousands of people enter the parks each day to be a part of the amazing attractions. But nothing is what is seems on the surface. They're hiding a dark secret, and six teenagers have been roped into what seems like it could only be in a dream. Based on KK
1. Authors Notes and C

Hey everyone! Quick little Authors note before we move on with the story.

I want everyone to know that this fic is semi-related to Kingdom Keepers. It explores the possibility of other parks using the same technology and similar ideas. It was more of a what if that a friend and I discussed for a long time. I actually really wanted to write this and thought it would be good to see another park come to life in the same way as it once did before.

These kids have no connections to the Keepers but they will be mentioned during the story.

All I own is the idea of the setting and new events. The original idea of Kingdom Keepers belongs to Riddley Pearson, Universal and its parks belong to Universal Studios and their respected copyright owners. The original characters in the story that do not relate to KK or Universal, however, are mine.

Please enjoy the story. Read, leave your feedback, ect. Port of Entry is planned to be a three or four part work. I'll try to upload chapters as I finish them.

-Writer M


	2. Chapter 1

When Alyce Caplanski woke up in the middle of the night she had a strange feeling that something was wrong. She couldn't quite put her finger on it but she knew something was amiss. She was still in her shorts and t-shirt she wore to bed although she wasn't under her fleece blanket on top of a soft mattress. Instead she was lying on solid concrete with what appeared to be a street lamp shining I her face. She could feel a small amount of heat radiating off of it. Her head was far to clouded to realized where she was. Alyce closed her eyes to go back to sleep but then sprang upright. She knew now where she was. It may have been empty but that didn't mean she wouldn't recognize the sign across from her.

"This must be a dream." She said. That was the only explanation for her being face to face with the Doctor Octopus sign. Alyce looked around to see she was sitting on the curb at Marvel's Super Hero Island. During the day this portion of Islands of Adventure was packed shoulder to shoulder with guests from everywhere waiting to experience what the park had to offer. But now it was well into the night and the park was closed. "It has to be." She said under her breath.

"You!" she her someone call behind her. Alyce turned around to see a short girl with long blonde hair approach her. She recognized her but she wasn't sure who she really was. "Aren't you the Hufflepuff girl?" the other one asked, her blue eyes meeting Alyce's green ones. Alyce nodded.

"Hammond?" she asked. "Hammond if that's you, you can turn off the accent." The other girl raised an eyebrow.

"You…sure you're that Alyce girl?" she asked. Alyce nodded again. Now she was sure this was a dream. Irene Hammond was just like her, along with four other teens. All of them were called in to be part of a digital holographic tour guide system being installed at Universal Orlando's Islands of Adventure. Each of them were filmed, motion captured and programmed to serve in one of the six islands with a particular character they had to play. Alyce was known as Alyce Caplanski the head girl of Hufflepuff. Of course for her role, she had to fake a British accent, since she came from Davenport, Florida. Irene was only known as Irene Hammond, at least to Alyce, the character who was the granddaughter of John Hammond. Her island was Jurassic Park. It wasn't hard for Irene to score that role, she already had the perfect accent. Though whether it was fake or real was beyond the knowledge of Alyce.

"Oh right, does this sound better?" she asked, transitioning to a perfect accent. Irene looked skeptical at first but accepted it.

"Sounds more like you. At least, your character." Irene said and approached Alyce. She held out a hand, which Alyce took and hoisted herself into a standing position. "Do you have any idea what's going on here?" she asked. Alyce took a moment to look around, examining Irene. Both of them were in their pajamas still.

"Isn't this just a dream? Aren't I, you know, asleep?" she asked in return. Irene help up her hand and gave Alyce a punch to the shoulder. "OW!" She shouted, rubbing her shoulder.

"I thought the same thing. Gave myself a pinch but when I realized I wasn't asleep I decided to look around. You won't believe what I saw." Irene said. Alyce had no words, only a look that meant she wanted to hear the rest of the story.

"Well?"

"The Tyrannosaurus Rex is a popular photo spot, you know the one by the jeep? Guess what?" Irene asked. She didn't leave room for Alyce to answer. "It's gone." Alyce's eyes widened. Even she knew that wasn't possible. She pushed her brunette hair out of her face.

"What do you mean it's gone? It's always there."

"I said the same thing! It's stationary, it can't move. But I did see it over by the gift shop." Irene said. "It was walking."

A walking dinosaur did not sound like something they would put in Jurassic Park. Or anything they would test at night. Once again, Alyce had no words.

"We're awake right now in this park. But that doesn't help to explain why there's a dinosaur walking around in Jurassic Park. It's breathing, walking and roaring." Irene said.

"Wait, wait, wait. The dinosaur is alive? Right now?" Alyce asked.

"Yes that's what I said! I saw it with my own eyes." Irene said. Alyce took a moment to consider the possibilities but her thoughts were interrupted by something else. A males voice, screaming in the distance.

"That's coming from Storm Force, come on!" Alyce said, grabbing Irene by the arm. The two took off running as fast as they could around the corner. They were greeted by a sight they didn't expect. First the dinosaur, and now they were face to face with Doctor Doom. He was standing menacingly in front of a boy the two girls recognized. He had blonde hair and dull, grey looking eyes. He was dressed in an old and dirty looking soccer jersey and basketball shorts. Irene pulled on Alyce's arm to bring her behind a wall to avoid being spotted.

"Something's not right here." Irene whispered.

"You think? That's Doctor Doom! I highly doubt it's an actor. Especially at this time of night…" she replied. They couldn't make out the words but all they could see was the boy looked scared out of his mind. "Hold on…I know him!" Alyson said. She looked to Irene. "That's Elijah, this is his park he hosts."

"Convenient he landed here then, eh?" Irene asked. They continued to watch the two talk. Then the boy bolted around Doctor Doom and took off running at light speed. Before Doom could catch up to him, Irene held her arm out and grabbed him by his shirt and pulled him close to her. She used her free hand to cover his mouth. "Shhh, don't say anything." She whispered in his ear. Doom began to walk past them but didn't see the group. Once the coast was clear, Irene took her hand off his mouth.

"Are you alright?" Alyce asked.

"What happened?!" Irene asked. Elijah needed a moment to calm himself down. After all, not everyone came face to face with a bad guy like that.

"I don't know what happened. I woke up on the ground just outside the Incredible Hulk coaster." Elijah said shakily. "I went to look around to see if this was someone's idea of a joke, then Doctor Doom grabbed me. He asked me how I got here."

"And?" Alyce asked.

"That's all! I was more focused on trying to get away." Elijah said. Suddenly the group felt a spell of dizziness. Neither of them knew how to react but they tried to stay focused.

"Look, something is going on around here. You know we're awake here in the park. Tomorrow after your day of classes we need to meet somewhere. You know the local coffee shop? I'll be there at four o'clock sharp." Irene said.

"Why are you saying this now?" Elijah asked, his words becoming slurred together.

"Because something isn't right here…"

That was the last thing Alyce hear before her alarm clock woke her up.


	3. Chapter 2

Irene Gillard went to the average high school. She was in her final year of schooling and was the oldest of the six teenagers. Of course she didn't exactly look it, in fact she looked like she should still be a freshman in high school. Irene is small, only about five foot four, with bright blue eyes and pin straight blonde hair. Her face was covered in freckles along with her shoulders and her legs. She sat at a small table with enough seats for her two new friends.

Actually, Irene wasn't really sure what to call them. She knew their faces from the brief time they spent in the Universal back studio, but that was all she knew. Of course she knew their characters from her visits to the parks themselves.

She sat with a cinnamon roll in front of her, breaking it off into pieces and putting them into her mouth. It was sweet and warm, and it tasted even better with her cup of tea. Irene grabbed her phone and tapped the lock button. It was already ten minutes past four and she was still sitting alone. She was hoping maybe they forgot but part of her was starting to question if last night's events were just a dream. Irene tried not to think too much about it and just decided to finish off her cinnamon roll.

The little bell above the door rang and a girl with brown and wavy hair walked in. Alyce Caplanski made her way over to the table Irene was sitting at. She threw her backpack on the floor and sat down in the chair right across from her.

"Took you long enough." Irene huffed.

"Not my fault after school traffic is always a mess." Alyce said. She reached into her backpack and grabbed a bag of Cheetos to snack on. "You don't have to use the accent all the time, it was just for a role in the parks…" she mumbled taking a few of the cheese powdered pieces and stuck them in her mouth.

"Excuse me? It's not fake. It's real." Irene said.

"Pardon me." Alyce said with her mouth full. This was the second time they had spoken, and Alyce knew very little about the other teenagers who are also part of the digital holographic program at Islands of Adventure. They all recorded their motion capture and lines weeks apart. Occasionally they would run into each other but they never said anything. They only really knew the characters they all played.

Alyce Caplanski was sectioned off to the Wizarding World. It wasn't her first choice, she actually went up for the role of the hologram for Marvel Super Hero Island but was turned down for reasons unknown. She felt lucky to get the part for the world of Harry Potter since she went up against so many who flew in from the UK for the part. It required her to fake a British accent to feel more authentic which she was happy to do. Alyce knew the parks inside and out, from how the rides worked to the small details of each movie or comic or book the parks were based off of.

Irene was a girl who moved from her home in the Highlands to live in America. It wasn't her choice of course, it was her parents. She was far too young to really remember much of it but it was confusing when she grew up with an accent ten times different from everyone else. When she was desperate for a job, and found one that called for a Scottish accent, she knew it was for her. Of course she walked in blindly to the audition. It only got better after hearing it would be related to dinosaurs, something Irene knew all too well.

Elijah Ried had no intention of being part of the digital holographic program. But college required money, the money that his parents were having problems coming up with. They had already sent his older sister and brother off to college and paying for their education was draining enough. They pushed him out the door and said to give it a go. He was knowledgeable about the Marvel comic universe but was he an expert? Really all he knew came from the movies.

The job of being used as the face claim for a digital hologram paid more than enough but most of the money was only touched by the parents. This excluded Irene, the oldest of the group, who was now an adult. For the rest of them to compensate for not having any of the funds they were given Platinum unlimited access to the parks, which included entering early and leaving late, major discounts on express passes and the most important, free and private parking. The best part was they were able to enter the parks whenever they wanted to. For the first year they were restricted, for fear that they would be treated like celebrities. They had to sign paper work to be approved to go in. But they soon realized that people couldn't pick them out of a line up if they weren't in costume. Thus they were given their unlimited access.

"We're short one lad. Where is he?" Irene asked, craning her neck to see out of the window.

"Elijah said he would be late." Alyce said finishing off her Cheetos. She and him went to the same high school, they even had the same classes together. "He's staying after to finish a test. Give him a few minutes he'll be here soon."

As soon as she finished her sentence, Elijah ran in panting furiously with a backpack full of books.

"Sorry! I'm here!" he said running to the table and taking a seat. "I had a history test to finish. But I'm here now and that's all that matters." He took a deep breath but his throat was obviously dry.

"You didn't…run here did you?" Irene asked.

"No, of course not! But I had to make a mad dash to my car, and then there was no place to park so I parked down the street and…" Elijah stopped and coughed. "I need a drink." He stood up and walked to the counter to get himself a bottle of water before sitting back down. He twist the cap off and started gulping it down.

"Anyways…" Alyce said. "We're all here now. What is there to discuss?"

"Uh, what isn't there to discuss?" Elijah asked setting his bottle of water down. The bottle was already almost empty. "We were at the parks last night after everything was shut down. All that was open was City Board Walk and even that was closing by the time we…left."

"But we weren't really there!" Alyce exclaimed. The two gave her a look that meant she needed to **quite down. "We couldn't have been there. Explain to me how we could have gotten from our beds to the parks after it was closed for the night?" she asked, her voice now quieter. Everyone exchanged glances, taking a moment to think about the question but they couldn't come up with an answer.

"Let's think about something else. Let's ignore how we got there and focus on what happened." Irene said. "Like, oh I don't know, seeing a real live dinosaur wandering around gift shop!" she hissed.

"And I saw Doctor Doom. There was no way it was a guy in costume like during the day. He was real, like he jumped off the comic page." Elijah added.

"How come I didn't get to see anything cool?" Alyce asked.

"Really? You're complaining about not seeing anything? We could have died last night." Irene said.

"Not to mention we probably weren't even there. What if it was all a dream?" Elijah asked.

"If it was a dream then how did we all see the same things? How did we all know to meet here? This wasn't a case of dream walking. We had to have been there physically." Irene said.

"How? Like I said before, we couldn't have left our beds to go to the parks after they were closed to the public. Something happened to us that got us there." Alyce said. There was a moment of silence as they pondered it again.

"Did you say dinosaur earlier?" Elijah asked. Irene nodded as she finished off her tea.

"A real one. The one that's by the jeep. It was like it jumped off it's stand and started wandering around the parks. It nearly caught me but it decided to run into the gift shop anyways." Irene said. "And what about Doctor Doom? He didn't look pleased to see you…" Elijah shrugged to make it seem like it wasn't a big deal but fear was still in his eyes.

"I entered under the Hulk and decided to look around." Elijah said. "I was over by Storm Force when he grabbed me by the shoulders and started interrogating me."

"What did he say?" Alyce asked.

"He wanted to know what I was doing there."

"And what did you tell him?"

"Told him I was breaking in to steal the Tesseract." Elijah said sarcastically. "What was I supposed to say? I told him I didn't know how I ended up here. He told me snooping around wasn't polite. He warned me about being there and if I was ever caught again there would be consequences. He wasn't done talking, but I booked it out of there before I could hear the rest."

"And what happened to us last night when we had the dizzy spell?" Alyce asked.

"Simple, we woke up. It was like our bodies were trying to warn up about it." Irene said. They all sat for a moment.

"Will we go back tonight?" Alyce asked.

"I hope not! If Doom see's me again, there will be consequences. And I really don't want to know what they'll be…" Elijah shivered for a moment out of fear.

"Who knows? This is just now starting. What if it's a sign?" Irene asked. The two looked at her as if she had two heads. "I'm serious! What if we're meant to be there? I say if we go tonight, we all meet up somewhere."

"How about Port of Entry?" Alyce suggested. Elijah redirected the look to her. "Well there's no use in not trying. I agree, if we go there tonight we need to stick together."

"What's got you so nervous? We'll protect you from Doom." Irene teased.

"Okay fine! I'm not scared of Doom but I'll play along. Sure we'll meet right outside the Port of Entry." Elijah said leaning back in his chair.

"So we'll go from there around the parks and look for more clues. Besides, if we stick together we'll have a better chance of survival." Irene smiled.

The three nodded in agreement and rushed out of the coffee shop to get their homework done. As Irene drove back to her house she was trying to piece things together. How were they getting inside the parks if they weren't there physically? She tried not to think too much to avoid driving while distracted. That night she put on her nicer looking pj's and went to bed as soon as she could.


	4. Chapter 3

"Hey! Hello! Anyone here? I'm a lone kid wandering the parks! I could be vandalizing something!"

Tara was hopelessly wandering around Seuss Landing hoping for a security guard to stop her or at least drag her immediately from the grounds to go home for the night. But that was the only problem, she didn't even know how she got there in the first place. All she could hear were the footsteps of her own as she passed by One Fish, Two Fish. This was a land she absolutely hated because it was her assigned Island. She wanted nothing to do with the childish books she despised when she was a child.

Suddenly the sound of giggling came from next to her. She turned her head to face it but there was nothing there.

"If this is someone's idea of a joke it isn't funny! I would really like to be home and asleep right now." Tara shouted. She continued walking but stopped when she heard it again. Two figures could be seen running across the path and back into hiding, laughing as they did so. Tara continued to walk again and tried to catch up with them.

"Hey! Slow down can you help me?!" she called, now running at full speed to the two figures. They were much too fast for her to catch up. "Would you stop? Please!" she screamed this time. But as she got closer the characters disappeared. Tara sat down on the ground to catch her breath. "Just who were those guys?" she asked herself.

"Woah, is that another one?" she head a male's voice.

"Yeah, that's Tara. Hey! Tara!" another male's voice called. Tara looked up to see two vaguely familiar faces.

"Uh, hey?" her inflection made it sound like more of a question instead of a greeting. They were both taller boys, one was slightly more so than the other. The taller one was pale for a boy who lived in Florida, with gray eyes and ash brown hair. The shorter one was of Asian descent, with jet black hair and deep brown eyes. "Hey were you the two you were running back and forth? You nearly gave me a heart attack!" She shouted as she stood up.

"What? No! We just got here!" The taller one said.

"Yeah, a likely story!" Tara hissed walking up to them. She put her finger on the taller boys chest, pushing him a bit. "If you think that's funny then you're the biggest jerk I know."

"No no, I swear it wasn't us. Like Derek it wasn't us." The other boy said, separating the two. "Nobody is pulling pranks on anyone."

Tara backed off and looked the two over before deciding they were safe to be around.

"Alrighty then." She said. "And, who are you? I mean, I know you work here, I've seen your characters, but who are you personally?"

"Well I'm Logan, I run the Lost Continent, where we just came from."

"And I'm Derek, I do Toon Lagoon." He sighed. Derek always felt like he got the short end of the stick with his Island.

"Tara. Seuss Landing." She said. The group stood around in silence. "So, any idea why we're here?" Tara asked.

"No clue. I thought I was at home asleep. Guess someone thought it would be funny to drop me off here." Derek said. The sound of rustling came from the bushes and the giggling started again. The group came close together to follow the sound.

"What was that?" Logan asked.

"I don't know but I heard it earlier." Tara said.

"Anyone else really want to leave? Like, right now?" Derek asked.

"The port is straight through that opening. If we run fast enough we can leave." Logan said. The group wasted no time in bolting towards the arch that lead out of Seuss Landing and back around to the park entrance. They were so close but the trio ran into another group of kids. They all collided at once and each fell onto the ground.

"Hey watch where you're going!"

"Me? That was your fault!"

"I think I broke something…"

"Did you step on my toes?!"

"Okay where did my cell phone go?"

"GUYS!" Irene shouted to stop the bickering. "Look I know this is inopportune but mind you I think we have bigger things to worry about!"

"Now hold on, how did you three get here?" Tara asked.

"Magic. Alyce used her head girl powers to bring us all here tonight." Elijah said sarcastically.

"We don't know how we got here. We don't know why we're here. But the important thing is that now we know it's happening to all of us." Alyce said.

"I fail to understand how this is a good thing." Logan replied. The group stood up and looked around. They were closer to the port but were still stuck by Super Hero Island.

"It's a good start though. It points us in the right direction of why." Irene said.

"Hold on why were you running?" Derek asked.

"We don't want to talk about it. Just keep running." Elijah said.

Alyce, Elijah and Irene felt the same feeling they had the night before. They felt dizzy and were unsure if they were spinning or it was just their imagination. Alyce had that sensation she would get after riding Storm Force Acceletron with her dad. The other three were unfamiliar with it.

"Guess now is the perfect time to phase out." Irene said. "Look, what's happening is real. What we're experiencing is real. I don't know how real but I can tell you we aren't asleep. Meet us at the local coffee shop at four o'clock, after school. We need to talk."

And that was the last thing the group heard before waking up in their own beds.


	5. Chapter 4

"Okay, somebody start talking." Tara said. The six teenagers had gathered at a local, family run coffee shop. The same the Alyce, Elijah and Irene had met at the day before. But now their numbers increased from three to six. All six islands holograms were sitting at a booth by the window. The girls were on the left side and the boys were on the right.

Tara Janine was a small girl, whose hair was fading from bleach blonde to a brown color. Her eyes were a bright hazel, that had an interesting shade of green surrounding her pupil. Her face had seen better days before being a teenager, but her makeup was able to cover up what bits of acne hadn't cleared up. Tara was experienced in acting and had been doing it since she was small. She always wanted a role in the parks but lacked theme park knowledge to run rides or perform in shows. It was a no brainer that her dream job would be a digital tour guide which required her performing lines and then going home. She didn't think she would be pushed off to Seuss Landing, which wasn't exactly a fan favorite. She tried desperately to trade with Derek but was unsuccessful.

Derek Naves, however, would have loved to trade if it wasn't for the fact that their contracts were final with their islands. He had no knowledge of Harry Potter, Marvel, Dinosaurs, of mythology. He barely knew anything about classic cartoons. But since the job required little to no knowledge, and his parents needed the money, he took it and ran with it. Toon Lagoon was a great place to cool down but it was mostly overlooked by the park guests.

Though it wasn't nearly as overlooked as the Lost Continent. Sure Logan Rhys knew his mythology inside and out but not many people appreciated it to his level. He just wanted a chance to share with others the great stories and lessons that could be found in the stories told from years and years ago. He was still paid just as much as the rest but he still felt rather empty about it. His island rarely saw as many guests as the Wizarding World, or Super Hero Island. He had a secret envy for Elijah and Alyce.

"Where oh where to begin." Alyce sighed.

"Well the beginning is typically the place where a story begins." Elijah mumbled. Alyce gave him a disapproving stare from across the table. The two stared at each other for a long moment, each taking turns exchanging glances. That was until Irene finally spoke up.

"We don't really know what is going on, but all we know is that as of two nights ago, we've been going to the parks at night." She said. "I don't have any theories. The only other thing I know is that there's a massive Dinosaur on the loose and Doctor Doom apparently hates small children."

"I have theories." Alyce said. "But I mean, we need to focus more on the bigger task at hand."

"And what's that? Don't you think it's way more important to know why this is happening to us?" Tara asked.

"Maybe it was all…" Derek started.

"A dream?" Irene, Alyce and Elijah asked at once.

"It's not." Alyce said.

"Because if it were, we wouldn't have all met here. There's no way we would all be having the same dream." Elijah added.

"So then what's the bigger task?" Logan asked. Irene and Alyce looked at Elijah.

"What?"

"Tell them about Doom." They said. He let out a long moan.

"Fine. Doom caught me wandering around and told me if he ever found me again that I would have to suffer the consequences." He said.

"So?" Tara asked.

"So that means that there's something there that Doom didn't want him to see. Something he doesn't want us to see." Alyce said.

"Well if the park is coming to life…" Derek started.

"That means everything inside of it is coming alive all at once when they close the gates." Logan said. "Do you know how bad that is? That park isn't filled with sparkles and rainbows. It's home to some jerks and baddies as well."

"Like Doom and the Syndicate." Alyce said. "And worse, I'd hate to know what's lurking from the realm of the Potter universe." Now it was Alyce's turn to be afraid. Her island contained a dragon, a giant spider, dementors and other horrifying things that would be more than happy to kill them all.

"Well you know what this means. We have to meet again tonight." Irene said.

"What?!" Elijah asked. "No, I don't think so. It's bad enough Doom wants to rip my head off and there's a dinosaur on the loose. That's just asking for us to get ourselves killed."

"I think Elijah is right. We need a safety first. If we just walk in and start walking around something could go wrong." Tara said. "And by wrong I mean Doom might just have Eli's head."

"Okay fine so we go during the day." Alyce said. "Tomorrow after school we'll get our platinum passes and just look around. It'll be a school day afternoon so we won't have major crowd control. And if we need to get on a ride we'll scan the Platinum Passes for express."

"And where should we meet? I don't know about you guys but I don't park in the roped off lot." Elijah said. There was something about parking at Spider Man that made him feel cool.

"Where we always meet." Irene said. "Port of Entry."

"Port of entry." The group said. They each exchanged contact information to keep in touch during their adventures.


	6. Chapter 5

**A/N: I took a very long break from this story because I just wasn't sure where I wanted to go with it. I needed some time away to delve into the plot on my own and figure out the direction. So in case you're wondering, I rewrote the fourth chapters ending and put them in the park during the day instead of at night. This should help keep the plot moving along. Enjoy!**

When Elijah pulled into the Universal Studios parking lot he wasn't alone. Logan had called him as soon as school was out and asked for a ride. Out of the six teenagers, Logan was the baby. While Derek and Irene were 18, and Tara, Alyce and Eli were 17, Logan was 16 and still had his temps. His parent's would never condone using a Friday afternoon to goof off and go to a theme park when he could be using the time to review his academic material. Logan didn't care. Anything was better than reading out of his text books.

"Thanks for the ride." Logan said, getting out of Elijah's blue Acura. Elijah smiled and locked his car. The lights flashed quickly on the sign that read Spider Man.

"No problem." He said. "Come on, we're already late. I can already hear Irene lecturing me about it."

The parking garage of Universal was almost like a maze. It was easy to take the wrong escalator and go down to another floor instead of getting off at the entrance to the City Boardwalk. Paying attention to signs was key. They took the escalator and made it to the main hub which had many promotional posters and security checks. One poster had a dragon breathing fire with a quote saying "Lightning never strikes twice?". It was a promo for the Diagon Alley expansion that would be coming to the Studio's soon.

Despite being "employees" of the park, the group still had to submit to security checks like everyone else. Once they were cleared they started walking past the moving sidewalks. People would always just stand and let the sidewalk move for them. But since they were already running behind they decided to walk on their own. At some points they would run until someone advised them that they shouldn't. Once they were on the city boardwalk they were halfway there. The combined smells of Cinnabon and Panda Express was wonderful, and for a moment Logan wanted to stop and take it all in. But they didn't have time. A quick left and a sprint before they were at the gates to Islands of Adventure handing over their silver colored passes and running through the turnstiles to an archway that read "Port of Entry". The Port of Entry wasn't really a port or the entryway but more like a hub to the islands. It had more shops and places to eat as well.

"Well there you two are!" Irene shouted, waving her hands to get their attention. The group converged together and decided to make a plan. Since the Port leads straight to Marvel's Super Hero Island they had to start there.

"Can we ride Spider Man?" Alyce asked. Irene rolled her eyes.

"We REALLY shouldn't be riding rides here. We came to see if there was any suspicious activity." She said.

"Okay well Doom is a villain, Spider Man's ride has villains, therefore there's a connection." Derek said. Alyce smiled.

"See? So it's not a lost cause." She added.

"No! We'll take a quick walk around the park and then we'll ride it. But we have actual things to do here." Irene said. "Come on. We'll start under Hulk and walk to the Toon Lagoon sign. Then, if everything checks out fine, we'll go ride Spider Man."

"Yes! Go team!" Logan said holding a hand up for a group high five. No one was interested. The group crossed a bridge where the Incredible Hulk coaster went both over and under it. The roar of the wheels made it hard to hear the park music. The faint sound of heavy rock music could be heard, which was the Main Street's main theme. Next to the Hulk was the Storm Force Acceletron, a tea cup like ride in which guests could spin around as fast as they wanted. As the group walked by, a familiar face caught Elijah's attention.

"Guys, look over there, it's Doom." He said. Doom, however, seemed a little different. Doom was a rather stationary character and preferred to hang close to his ride, the Fear Fall. But this Doom was on free roam, as Alyce called it. He was weaving between guests, sometimes pushing them aside if they were begging for pictures.

"What's up with him? He seems off kilter today." Irene said.

"Oh no, he's coming back to get me. I told you we should have stayed home!" Elijah panicked. The group stopped and looked at him.

"So what? He's free roaming today. Like that's a problem?" Tara asked. "It's just a guy in a costume." Elijah took a deep breath. He kept reminding himself that it was a man in a mask but he had a feeling in his gut that it wasn't. Not after his encounter with him a few nights ago. A few nights ago he almost got ripped to pieces over nothing. Doom wasn't someone he wanted to mess with.

"You there!" a deep voice called. Doom was pointing right at Elijah.

"I thought Doom was the silent type." Alyce said. They hadn't made it to the café before Doom was walking towards them. He didn't look happy, and it wasn't something that was part of the character routine.

"Guys! It's just a character." Tara said. But now Doom was in full on sprint. "Okay I lied that's not a character." Irene didn't think for a moment, she just motioned for the group to follow her.

"Follow me!" she said. The group began to run past the main street building and into the Gift Shop next to the Amazing Adventures of Spider Man.

"Great hiding spot, Irene. In the empty gift shop? Really?" Elijah asked. She turned around a pillar of merchandise and down a hallway where a single chain rope stood. Alyce knew where they were. It was the entrance to the single rider wait for Spider Man. The hall was always pretty empty of guests, since many opted to ride with their family and friends. Irene grabbed the chain and held it up.

"Trust me, if we hurry down this back hall he won't find us." She said. "But we have to move fast otherwise we'll be spotted." The group didn't question her decisions and Alyce was the first to run under and down the hall, followed by Elijah, Tara, Derek and Logan. They were met at a station for grabbing 3D glasses. An employee came out of a door, which behind they cleaned the glasses.

"Hope you aren't expecting to get on soon." The cast member said. He was dressed like a Daily Bugle staff member in a purple shirt and black dress pants.

"Why's that?" Tara asked. The entire group seemed winded which seemed strange to the employee, but he shrugged it off.

"We had a bit of a malfunction. The ride might be closed for the night if we can't figure it out." He said. It was almost as if someone punched Alyce in the face. Even though she was the tour guide for the Wizaridng World, her favorite ride was the Amazing Adventure's of Spider Man. The bright sparkle in her eyes died.

"Wait why? No, this ride hardly ever has downs. I would know!" Alyce said. "I've done extensive research, this ride never, ever, ever has down time. Why does this have down time?"

"Calm down!" the employee said. "During one of the sequences the SCOOP car shocked riders. Nothing major, no one was hurt but it stopped the cars and the lights went up."

"A shock? Not possible. There's no way that the ride could have shocked people." Alyce said. But a thought came into her head. But maybe it wasn't the fault of the ride.

"I don't know what to tell you, kid. That's just what I saw." He said. He picked up a bin of glasses and went back behind the door. "All I know is they called up the engineers to come back and take a look. So I wouldn't count on getting on anytime soon."

"I don't think it was the ride." Alyce said.

"Hey, you know everything about the parks, what do you think happened?" Logan asked.

"If Doom was alive, then that means other characters must be too." Alyce said. "Who's the bad guy with the power over electricity?" she asked.

"You think Electro zapped the riders? No, sorry I'm not buying it." Elijah said. "He doesn't have a reason to antagonize the guests."

"Think about it thought." Derek started. "Do villains need a reason to cause problems? Most of the time they're mean to be mean. They don't need a motive unless…"

"Unless the hero gets in their way." Tara finished. "So what you're saying is Electro actually stuck a giant electrical plug into the car and shocked a bunch of people for no other reason that someone was in his way?"

"Well the question is, who?" Irene asked. They didn't waste time thinking, they just looked at Elijah.

"You can't think this is my fault! I haven't done anything." He said.

"Doom said there would be consequences. Maybe, unknowingly, you found something you shouldn't have and now you're in the way." Alyce said. "The consequences could be innocent riders getting hurt."

"Attention SCOOP riders!" a voice boomed over the PA system. "You're ride for the report has experienced some technical difficulties and we're going to ask you to leave the building at once."

The man they spoke to earlier was walking out of the room on a walkie talkie.

"What do you mean flooding? There's no big water effect on this ride! Are you sure that's what it is?" he asked. He turned back to the group. "Hey, when you exit just go out the way you came in." he said. "Okay how much water are we talkin?"

"I don't think we need more proof." Alyce said The group nodded and made their way to the entrance to the single rider.

"We've wasted about half an hour in there. We have until 9pm with our passes." Irene said. "If we run for it we can look into Toon Lagoon."


	7. Chapter 6

**A/N: This chapter is a little shorter and I was thinking of just including it and the next chapter in Chapter 5. But I thought I would tease up a little more with this quick little scene. Chapter's 7 and 8 should be up sometime this week!**

The area music to Toon Lagoon was bouncy and fun. It really captured the theme of the island, which were old comic strip characters and cartoons. If you listened closely when you walked past the gift shops you could hear Betty Boop singing.

"Maybe we should skip this island." Derek said. This was his territory, and he knew that there was no possible way anyone here would be behind something. Bluto would be the only one who could do anything but he was too busy with Popeye.

"It's you're island. You're call." Irene said.

"Skip it." Derek said. Irene shrugged and kept on walking.

"If you say so." She sighed. The group kept on walking. But the more they walked the more Derek felt like someone was wrong. Maybe skipping over the park was the worst idea he ever had. Irene was already taking leadership, so she should have told him no. But he had already made the decision to skip it so he kept going with it. The kept past the gift shops, and Bluto's Bilgerat Barges, then around to the games. Many cast members were trying to haggle them to play their games for prizes like giant stuffed Minions or inflatable's. Irene wanted to stop there and play. She was so good at those games. There wasn't a single carnie game she wasn't good at. Whenever they challenged her to play she felt like she had to accept. But they were on a mission, and a giant stuffed Minion wasn't going to help her.

"Wait!" Tara shouted. She shoved her hands in her pockets and started pulling out spare change. Everyone just stared at her. "I like to squirt the riders on Dudley Do Rights. Can I?" she asked. She didn't wait for a response. She just ran with it. Tara bolted over to a small box and put in 50 cents on three water guns and proceeded to press the buttons. But when the log came around, no one was in it. She waited for the next one, and nobody was in it.

"Really?" she asked. "I wasted so much change on nothing!"

"No one? They're running empty? But it's not even cold out. Why are they running empty?" Alyson asked. She stood on the side of the bridge facing the drop of Dudley Do Rights. Each log flume that dropped down the hill was completely empty.

"Make a note of it." Logan said. "Could be something."

"Or it could be nothing." Elijah said. "They run empty cars all the time. Why is this any different?" he asked.

"When they run empty cars it's for testing. But it's running on its normal cycle." Alyson said. "That's fishy."

"It it's nothing major maybe we should keep going?" Derek asked.

"Yeah, we should move on to Jurassic Park." Irene motioned for the group to come back together and press on.


End file.
